Thursday, March 09, 2006

I was sitting at my desk doing a little surfing during that two-hour period between dropping off and picking the kids up from school, and wound up at a blog titled From Where I Sit.

Fascinating site and some excellent thoughts from the fictional Elliot, the site commander, and those who visit and comment. I especially liked the religious word battles. I'll set up my permanent link to that site and visit it often.

Read the first chapter of The Abortionist, written by Michael Caughill (Elliot is a character from this story). I would like to do something like that...have thought about it for years and perhaps this will provide the impetus for it...gotta say though, don't like the over the top premise. Hmmm, maybe I could write something like the "Over the Top Anti-Abortionist."

The woman woke to find she was naked and chained to a wall. The letter A had been painted on her left breast in black. She saw herself in a reflection from the sunglasses that a man wore who was sitting across from her. She could not see his eyes. He was sitting in a high back chair. He was dressed all in black...shirt, belt, pants and jack boots (polished to a high sheen). All black.

She shivered and in a frightened voice asked where she was.

"You will carry your child to term, " was all the man said.

"But I was raped."

"You will carry your child to term," he repeated.

There was no inflection in his voice. Pure monotone, low, evil and black.

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

A little judicial activism would have been a good thing when Dred Scott was decided 150+ years ago. If Scalia had been on the court then he would have likely voted for the property aspect. I wonder how Thomas would have voted?

This conversation between Chris Matthews and Pat Toomey about abortion from atrios. Come on Charlie, Jessica and the rest of you righties and anti-abortion goofy-heads, I’m curious to hear your answer. Oh, Jessica, just another example of something that won't be reported by the right-wing media pretenders.

Note: I removed all the crosstalk references.

MATTHEWS: Well, let‘s talk about the mainstream. Would you like to repeal or have a court overrule Roe v. Wade?

TOOMEY: Yes, I would. I think that that was clearly not a legitimate decision. It was a case where five (actually seven) Supreme Court justices decided that...

MATTHEWS: Yes, so you would like to get rid of—yes, so you basically would like to see...

TOOMEY: They decided they were going to pass a law.

MATTHEWS: Well, do you think the Supreme Court was wrong in saying a woman has a right to an abortion in the first six months of pregnancy?

TOOMEY: Yes, I think they were wrong to say that. I think that‘s not a legitimate decision. The Constitution is clearly silent on the issue of abortion. States had addressed this issue, and the Supreme Court decided it wanted to overrule the legislative bodies of all 50 states and so it did. It issued an edict.

MATTHEWS: If you go back to state‘s rights on abortion, would you support banning abortion in Pennsylvania?

TOOMEY: Yes, I would, yes.

MATTHEWS: In other words, if a woman had an abortion in Pennsylvania, what would you do to her?

TOOMEY: Well, you know, Chris...

MATTHEWS: I‘m serious. What would you do to her? You said you want to ban it. You want to use the law to outlaw abortion.

TOOMEY: That‘s right.

MATTHEWS: What would you do to a woman who had an abortion? What would you do to her?

TOOMEY: Oh, I think we would first look at the doctor who is performing the abortion and have some penalties.

MATTHEWS: Why? Why don‘t you go after the woman? Why don‘t you go after the woman? In any other situation of law and justice, you go after the person who perpetrates the act. If it‘s wrong to commit...

MATTHEWS: No, really. This is what the whole issue of abortion is and where all the B.S. comes into this argument. Are you willing to say that you would put a woman in prison for having an abortion?

TOOMEY: Chris, I‘m not sure what the penalty would be. I‘m saying...

MATTHEWS: Well, say what you want it to be.

MATTHEWS: You said it should be banned. Would you please stand up for what you believe?

TOOMEY: That‘s right.

MATTHEWS: If abortion is wrong and it‘s a crime and it‘s murder, tell me what the punishment should be.

TOOMEY: And I‘m telling you that there should be legal action taken against the doctor who performs it.

MATTHEWS: And?

TOOMEY: And we‘ve got to think through what we would do with regard to the woman.

MATTHEWS: What would you like to do?

TOOMEY: But, Chris, that doesn‘t change the fact...

MATTHEWS: You are running for the United States Senate.

MATTHEWS: And you‘ve said we ought to get rid of Roe v. Wade and you said that abortion should be banned in Pennsylvania, but you won‘t tell me what the penalty should be.

TOOMEY: That‘s right, Chris. Look, we can take things one step at a time. I think that the constitutional decision was invalid. It‘s perfectly OK to believe that these justices made up a right that doesn‘t exist in the Constitution without deciding exactly what the penalty should be under all circumstances.

MATTHEWS: You want to make up a law without a penalty. It‘s a crime without a penalty. I‘ve never heard of such a thing.

MATTHEWS: I‘m serious. This is the problem and the confusion over abortion rights in this country.

MATTHEWS: People on the far right side won‘t say what they‘ll do. They simply say they don‘t like the way things are now. What would you do?

TOOMEY: Well, if we overturn Roe vs. wade, one of the things we could do is leave it to states to make some decisions about this.

MATTHEWS: And what would you support Pennsylvania doing? You are running for senator from Pennsylvania. What should Pennsylvania do to women who decide to have an abortion? What would you do to them?

TOOMEY: Chris, I‘ve told you, I haven‘t figured out what I think we should be doing with

MATTHEWS: Well, shouldn‘t you figure out a few of these things before you run for office?

MATTHEWS: Shouldn‘t you make those basic decisions?

TOOMEY: I think my voting record is pretty clear. I have got a very long voting record. I have made a lot of decisions.And I think it‘s perfectly legitimate to say that one doesn‘t necessarily support this decision.

MATTHEWS: And what‘s Specter‘s position on abortion rights?

TOOMEY: Oh, is he a big advocate of abortion rights and taxpayer-funded abortion and all the rest, which is way outside the mainstream of the party.

MATTHEWS: OK, thank you very much, Congressman Pat Toomey. Thanks for playing HARDBALL. You may well win this one.

I was preparing to give my five-year old daughter a bath this morning when she asked me if it could be a play bath...meaning bubbles. I said sure, there was time, and wondered out loud if she wanted toys other than the yellow duckies. She said to bring her the Ken doll, "The one with the swimsuit on," and her Barbie. "But take her clothes off first" she said. I smiled as a memory was ignited from my wedding night....

I was already in the jacuzzi. It was about half full. I asked Kelly for the bubble juice. She handed it to me, but warned me to be careful because it was concentrated. I poured a little in and splashed it about with my hand. No bubbles.

Hmmm. I poured some more in and splashed again. Again, no bubbles.

"Kelly, this stuff must be old," I said.

Kelly looked into the mirror at me (isn't it fun how those little memories remain) and said that it was possible.

I poured a quarter of the bottle into the jacuzzi and splashed around. Still no bubbles.

"Oh well. Can you live without bubbles?"

"Sure."

"Okay," I sighed, and reached over and turned on the jets.

Bubbles began to appear.

"Hey look," I said. "Finally."

More bubbles. Soon bubbles covered the water.

"Uh. I think we may have a problem. Check this out, Kelly."

She turned and looked and laughed. "It's precisely for this reason that I married you," she said.

And the bubbles continued to grow until their peaks towered over my head. At that point I turned off the jets and disappeared, only to return a moment later looking like the Snow Miser. Then Kelly joined me in the tub.

Have you ever noticed that naked Barbies are very anatomically accurate these days, though it is still too easy to remove their arms and legs.

Hat tip to Xoff for this link to Bob Dohnal, ranter extraordinaire and publisher of the Wisconsin Conservative Digest. Below is just a slice of Dohnal’s reasoned discussion style (bold face mine).

Just prior to the founding of the Wisconsin Conservative Digest and it’swebsite, “widigest.com”, Ed Garvey, a perennial liberal candidate for officehad founded “Fighting Bobfest”. This liberal hate-fest attracts a considerable number of wild-eyed leftwing activists to hear speakers disparage conservatives and their representatives in office with an incredible amount of vitriol. After reading the news articles depicting the antics of “Fighting Bobfest” I thought; “Boy if you gather a few nuts in one place you sure can attract a lot of squirrels.” It was this debacle that initiated the concept of a conservative conference built on positive discussion about solving problems in Wisconsin, rather than mindlessly lash out at liberals.

The last line is classic hypocrisy…Hmmm, no vitriol there. The families of anyone who would consider contributing to this site have got to be concerned for their sanity…or not.

Whereas,our forefathers of this great nation of the United States recognized a Christian Godand used the principles afforded to us by Him as the founding principles of ournation; and

Whereas,as citizens of this great nation, we the majority also wish to exercise our constitutional right to acknowledge our Creator and give thanks for the many gifts provided by Him; and

Whereas,as elected officials we should protect the majority's right(bold face mine) to express their religious beliefs while showing respect for those who object; and

Whereas,we wish to continue the wisdom imparted in the Constitution of the United States of America by the founding fathers; and

Whereas,we as elected officials recognize that a Greater Power exists above and beyond the institutions of mankind:

Now, therefore,be it resolved by the members of the House of Representatives of the Ninety-third General Assembly, Second Regular Session, the Senate concurring therein, that we stand with the majority of our constituents and exercise the common sense that voluntary prayer in public schools and religious displays onpublic property are not a coalition of church and state, but rather the justified recognition of the positive role that Christianity has played in this great nation of ours, the United States ofAmerica.

And just how will people who object be respectfully treated? Let's see...

Dear Sir,

Recently, your child, (Name), refused to recite the oath of allegiance to God and country, and did not participate in the voluntary prayer session afterword. You may have noticed that (Name) has not returned to your home. (Name) was consequently taken to the "Praise The Lord" Detention Center at 45th and Kilbourn.

You may come to the detention center between the hours of 8:00 am and 9:00 am to retrieve the body.

Respectfully yours, Obergrupenfuhrer (Name)

PS: We have set up a meeting for you and your wife for next Tuesday at 11:15 pm. Officers will arrive to escort you to the meeting. Please bring a toothbrush.

Is this woman completely clueless? Jessica McBucher, once again, misses the point while commenting about Tim Cuprisin's article about John Mercure's wierd blog adventure.

Jessica, it's not about the content...it's that Mercure is misleading people to believe that the original over-the-top post never existed. That's calling lying...and you are enabling that behavior. Typical for conservatives, though.

Monday, March 06, 2006

Reporting on the sentencing of disgraced former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham(R-CA) during the March 3 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume,Fox News correspondent Anita Vogel did not once mention that Cunningham was a Republican. During the course of the report, Vogel instead referred to Cunningham as "the former Vietnam war hero," "U.S. congressman," and "representative."

For the record, Cunningham is a REPUBLICAN. As is Tom Reynolds, Charlie. And, sorry, you may not like her and you can disavow her all you want, but Ann Coulter is yours, conservative brethren.

You hear a lot of talk about the health, or lack thereof, of Kerry Wood andMark Prior.

But they aren't the big story in Chicago. The big story in Chicago isnon-roster invitee Marquis Grissom. Why, you say? What could a 39-year-oldoutfielder who played in just 44 games last season in San Francisco possiblybring to the mix?

Just this: If he makes the club, and if, say, the young Matt Murtonstruggles early in the season, or strains a hammy or some such sadness, the Cubscould play Marquis alongside Juan Pierre and Jacque Jones giving them what Ibelieve to be the major leagues' first-ever All Faux French Outfield, whichwould, you know, be pretty funny.

Contrary to what a couple righty bloggers have said, I say that Tim Cuprisin hit it right on the head regarding TMJ4 reporter John Mercure's blog comments. Here is an example of the original post by Mercure (from Cuprisin's article)...

In a Feb. 28 posting (since removed) about a convicted sex offender, Mercurewrote: "This sick loser should be castrated . . . or strung up." His post,with 28 exclamation points, features big, bold capital letters proclaimingthat "THERE IS A COZY PLACE IN A DARK CORNER OF HELL" for the offender.

It's juuuust a little over the top...especially coming from a journalist(?). Obviously TMJ4 thought so too because the post was later replaced with this.

What compounds the problem is the blatant lie Mercure is caught in when he leads people to believe that the original post never happened by telling people to check out what Charlie Sykes thought of his post...never mentioning that Sykes was commenting about the original.

Of course, Sykes is involved in the coverup as well as he provides a link to the new post, not the original. What a surprise.

Sunday, March 05, 2006

The next time you order checks have only your initials (instead of first name) and last name put on them. If someone takes your checkbook, they will not know if you sign your checks with just your initials or your first name, but your bank will know how you sign your checks.

Do not sign the back of your credit cards. Instead, put "PHOTO ID REQUIRED".

When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts, DO NOT put the complete account number on the "For" line. Instead, just put the last four numbers. The credit card company knows the rest of the number, and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all the check processing channels won't have access to it.

Put your work phone number on your checks instead of your home phone. If you have a P.O. Box, use that instead of your home address. If you do not have a P.O. Box, use your work address. Never have your social security number printed on your checks (DUH!). You can add it if it is necessary. But if you have it printed, anyone can get it.

Copy the contents of your wallet. Do both sides of each license, credit card, etc. You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel in case your wallet is lost or stolen. Keep the photocopies in a safe place.

Carry a photocopy of your passport when traveling inside the U.S. or abroad.

The individual who wrote this lost his wallet and in within a week, an expensive monthly cell phone package was ordered, a VISA credit card was applied for, a credit line was approved to buy a Gateway computer, a PIN number was received from DMV to change this individual's driving record information online, and more. But here's some critical information to limit the damage in case this happens to you or someone you know:

We have been told we should cancel our credit cards immediately. But the key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy so you know whom to call. Keep those where you can find them. File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where your credit cards, etc., were stolen. This proves to credit providers you were diligent, and this is a first step toward an investigation (if there ever is one).

But here's what is perhaps most important of all: Call the three national credit reporting organizations immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and social security number. I had never heard of doing that until advised by a bank that called to tell me an application for credit was made over the Internet in my name. The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen, and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit. By the time I was advised to do this, almost two weeks after the theft, all the damage had been done. There are records of all the credit checks initiated by the thieves' purchases, none of which I knew about before placing the alert.

Here are the numbers you always need to contact about your wallet, etc., has been stolen:

It sounds like the 911 operator did respond in a tired fashion (link to Spivak and Bice column). Having said that, Sheriff David Clarke was highly unprofessional in his response. If he thinks that verbally berating an employee will cause positive change to be made, then he needs to take a refresher course in successful administration. And by the way, his repetitious asking of the question "What is it going to take..." was a bullying tactic. The time to have an attitude adjustment session with the employee was later in private, not over the phone and not by tieing up a 911 line. Clarke is a bully.

Another reason why the Republicans can have this guy and I will never vote for him.